Friday, July 31, 2009

Eastern Europe Lost Connections

Somewhere out there in Polish land is some distant ancestors of my husbands clan.
We know they were from the areas around POSEN Poland. About 7 small towns that are
around looking for one with a castle or moat that the ancestor fell from and DIed.
He was repairing something on the castle wall at time of death. His wife and children came to
USA with other family members after his death. The children were raised in IOWA.
Some came around 1850 some as late as 1860 or so.
Some names we have searched for are DENZEIN, NANKE, NEUMANN, and so many more.

Now if you wander west and north of there you will find your self in what is today Schleswig -Holstein and
more of the family came from here. JIPP< JEPP< SCHMIDT, and more again to find.

We know it was Denmark then changed to S-H region of what later became Germanic territory.
Since GErmany was not a state until after they came to America. We have contacted one very
distant Jepp/Jipp kin and have since lost touch with her after bad winter a couple years ago.

The furniture restorer in S-H town is a replica of my husbands GGrandfather. His picture is on his place of
business in the small town of which he lives but he will not respond to us. His restoration of antique furniture is awesome.

GLUCH is in this mix also.

Mary has most of the paper work so going from Memory.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Irish Dreaming

O to Dream of Ireland

Dream, dream, dream, Listen to the waves slap against the shore.

Listen to the cycle wheels turn along the path to the shore.

Shifting in the sand and watching the ships at sea,

Ireland or Ireland what are we to see.


The mountains and the rills, the streams and the sea.

The people and the animals and the friendliness they be.

The taverns and the lanterns and the food that they eat.

Some of our Ancestors brought to us meet.

The sun and the fog and the rain and the cold,

The smiles, the tears, the happiness that flows.

They are a warm people way down underneath.

Where o where are my kin hiding from me.

There is some MORROW and TUTTLE and some

SCOTT for me to see.

Susi Pentico

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Researching Genealogy the old Way.

Remember when, O can you remember when, to do a research you went to the library and looked in the Card Catalog, the History Section, Reference Section, Who's Who's books, books on names meanings, and if lucky to live near a LDS Library you could go spend some time searching the files and films and fiche for data. I loved their books, so many of the LDS places have had the books disappear. When our local library moved, two books I was using for two years disappeared. They were able to find one and get it back the other is gone, gone, gone. Maybe some day it will show up in SLC. But it's not in their system anymore.

Our library (County) had a series of Encyclopedias on Colonial America. I was 1/3 the way through it and they did a remodel and they removed that series, I was using it to help the students in the class I was teaching. That was a real bummer. NO they never found those books again. I have only seen it in their system. Alas, it talked of the hard times, the ships travels, the storms, the weather and it's affect on people coming to America. We all were learning so much from them. I have not seen another with the data that they had. It was from pre COLONIAL TIMES to when we became a Nation.

I think we were all amazed to learn of the winter storm that froze so much of NYC and people died from no heat and no food.

It reminded me of the elderly that die today because of the heat and no liquids and no way to cool off. These types of events seem to hit the inner cities somewhat harder than rural areas.

I suspect this is due to rural tend to find and help each other on a steady basis as in the city we only relied on the milkman, the grocery man, the produce man etc. . When they could not travel the city streets people were lost. It talked about how one milk man died from exposure attempting to get to some of his steady customers.

Research the old way brought out many great books written long ago with a different perspective than many historians of today.

IN 1959, I started reading the history books in the Petaluma, Ca library, when husband returned from deployment 18 mos.
later I had made a huge dent in their books. Books that make me wonder how people can do research today and not have this knowledge to know what direction to find more information. Ceasar A. did some many interesting things to keep his Empire
in control and not lose face, or money to feed his people. He was a shrewd business man.
His war with Nubia (North Africa's Morocco) changed the linage of at least three nations and one massively so. I suspect had I completed that section in the library he may have changed more than those countries ancestry. When we go back farther we have other rulers who changed the make up of the people.

So researchers, remember books are the answers to many of our problems but finding them is an even bigger concern of mine of late. We also need to branch out( our research ) and learn the lines of many countries before they became what they are known as today. I am blessed following a G YDNA search on a line of my family and am learning of the old people of the old times that I was just beginning to scratch the surface of when I moved away from that great old library that is now new and modern and no does not have all those great old history books in it.

I worry that with our county ( San Diego) that is now looking at a new library (if one calls that design a library) how many of the very old books will go. How many of the old Encyclopedia's that talk of the days of a different time that as researchers we need will disappear. More on this topic to come if you want to watch for it. Leland I am going searching and knocking. :>)

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Genealogy in the Veins

Genealogy in the Veins.

We were chatting the other day and up came an old thought of mine regarding linage's and family and friends. Some day I want to be able to take the time and track out the lines of our friends. I have a suspect feeling that most of our close friends were actually close friends to family in the days of old or even related to them.

I have by accident found that some of our friends are actually related by links back in the early 1800's or late 1700's so it started my gears to grinding and my heart to pounding. I just have not had the time to start such a project but was wondering if anyone else had, run across this implication of events?

I also found links between my family and my husband's family back in time. I have a dear friend that is related to my husband and her husband is related to me. Wonder what the YDNA or MTDNA would show? Probably nothing.

My sister in law and I learned that her family and my Mom's family are linked also. She had photo she could not identify but we had photo that was labeled. Same photo in two peoples, probably more, possession.

It seems we listen closer and are always amazed at the comparing that we do in regards to places and events and family traits.

Do we watch for the things we observe in our family in others families? Do we ask where they acquired that thought or
language usage? In one of our family lines a few phrases have been passed down for at least five generations.

I used to think that was strange but the more people I talk to, the more people have that type of situation transpiring.

Regions, generally have specific sayings that are heard dominate in that area. When you meet someone away from that area, you begin wondering where that saying generated from.

Having visited relatives in Pennsylvania, I learned some of the sayings my Grandfather said, Mom said and we learned actually were from where Grandad's Grandparents came from. There are generally specific words or terms used that give you clues.

I chuckled over the Creek Creek comment, one is CRICK and the other is CREEK. It will remind you of Tomatoe and tomaato.
Another word that is changed via region is Soda or Pop. I can think of many descriptive words used in PA that we have always used in my family and since we have much relation that came from this region ( Pennsylvania) I can now understand why we
probably did not loose the words or sayings or thoughts. My Dad's MOM's family is from Pennsylvania also so the words were ingrained on both sides of family.

When I visited Pennsylvania, many thought my family had only recently moved away from there and that was not the case the move was made about 1870 or 1850 for Moms or for Dad's MOMs family. We just never muddied the waters with changes.

So I thought I would ask you other genealogy buffs what your family has kept and retained or if you had never even noticed the similarities or changes?

Have you ever wondered about your friends actually being distant kin?

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Thoughts on Genealogy Research Sites

As I stated on Facebook, since Mr. Thornton has had a missed beat I have really had some deep thoughts on our directions and maneuvers.
Many years ago, alas, to many years ago, we had little access to the internet. We had access to books, films, readers, digests, maps, each others research, libraries and archives, county libraries and on up the line to Federal data.

AHHH the internet happened, Was this a good thing maybe, was it a bad thing maybe. There was a distant cousin I met in a early chat room on Golden Gate Forum who was my first (BINGO) for a connection on a family line. He is long gone now but we shared many words on genealogy and the changes he had seen and I would be seeing. George F. cousined with this man also. He had much insight and knowledge. Because I had fifteen boxes of genealogy regarding different lines of family I had worked over the past 25 years, I was saying I could never get it all put on line. Bless him, he said a few lines at a time and hopefully they would be empty before I was gone. Well, I have since 1995 added five boxes to various files, Alas those systems are not up any more. I am not giving them away until I get the data off them. I have also added two boxes to the system of documents, pictures and data that need retained in hard copy. I have two websites and Geni.com and recently added data to Ancestry.com on husbands side.

Many other things in genealogy happened also. Had I known the sourcing would have changed I could have had hand written documents of my Grandparents for my files. I do have a few letters but not like what today's sourcing wants. So as I added the files I refound the sources sometimes found more distant kin and made many new acquaintances. So it was not a matter of data entry it was a matter of almost redoing the entire system.

I loved the interaction of the GOLDEN GATE FORUM and the care and work ethics that were put out by the chat hosts and
attendees. I can not say how many people I served or helped me but it was in the thousand's and that is no lie.
Today, I hear from at least 25 of them on steady basis and probably over a 100 on as need to know or question arises by someone. That forum has been gone over ten years so I think that is a good track record. I went on to work for Joe
and his people and was helpful in creating the first online Genealogy Conference ever held that we could find.
We covered the month of October and had many awesome Genealogists from everywhere attend and give their talks
When that system retired. I was already teaching this topic at our local library twice a month, which I have done for 8 years.

I served on my local genealogy society as: Secretary, President, Vice President, etc. I also served on boards on other local societies. I am still serving now. I also helped with the newspaper at the local society level and when on the Golden Gate Forum put out the Mid Atlantic Messenger for all those who wanted it.

Recently having gone to the Conference in Burbank I learned many new and I thought exciting things that genealogists are going to be looking at and maybe changing how we do some of our things again. I know I started using Geni.com after the Burbank Conference two years ago. I think it helps us to link to our near or distant relative with out creating as much replication that happens via just email.

This time I learned about Blogging but not as a chat tool but as a genealogical tool. I find it fits into the Online Conference theme I have done before and some of those that are blogging big time now were asked to be our speakers back then so long ago. Maybe it is what brought some of this to the front today. PodCasts are obviously the wave of the future also.
I bought my recorder but that is as far as I have mastered that one so far. I had others but wanted what was recommended by one of the best.

Now the blogging agenda, we have many hundred sites of bloggers with good and interesting data, but now I wonder if all these sites that are coming up are not messing us up. Yes, that is what I said.

I love the USGENWEB.ORG system and program, would it not have been better to have taken this new concept to them and maybe making it modern and kept it within those regions bounds. I see many usgenweb.org sites that are old and haggered looking in dire need of direction. I see some that are up and modern and putting some of the interaction with in their program.
Even the Rootsweb based program could use some of this concept I think.

My biggest concern when I first learned of the new area for posting was, how many can we handle, how many do we want, are we spreading ourselves to thin and missing the data we are looking for because we are not utilizing the sources and resources we have? I was wondering if the gentleman that sounded so excited about his site had thought of stepping up to help the state source sites with his concept instead of a general? Can one imagine how great it would be to go to the state source site,
and do the maneuvers we can do on Facebook and Genealogy-Wise ( if it holds) or let alone many others places that tend to be cropping up.

Am I really out in left field with these thoughts, I do not think so I am hoping some of my old Forum friends and family and acquaintances will respond if they had even thought of this or feel overwhelmed by the amount of data that is filtering to us,
for use as genealogists.

Please do not misunderstand me I love the Blogs, the sites and the data but are we spreading our selves so far apart we are missing many connections?

I try not to post a lot unless I think it's something that is viable for many because I do not want to muddy others waters that have great information and good knowledge to share. I also find the time I spend doing to much blogging cuts into my research time, which is cut into (LOL) by Family which should come first :>).

Maybe reaching 50 years of marriage has muddled my thinking but I am sure curious if the little words I hear, here and there are really more real than not and we do not want to damage our researching we always want to make it a better place.

I am really hoping to hear from many of you regarding this matter. I do not think I would have decided to ask except after this last situation I sure had to rethink about where we are going and what are we doing?

SusiCP@aol.com or SusiCP@cox.net

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Lost Colony information

HI, Everyone,

Anyone following the happenings at the LOST COLONY Site? Did anyone watch the program Wed. evening regarding the COLONY and their discoveries. If you did there is more data on the website regarding the research done by geologists.
You may want to try this site. You may want to read the names of the people that dissappeared or married or mixed in with the local people of the neighborhood at that time. It is a modern mystery that has been really interesting to follow.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~molcgdra/ Roberta Estes is the project Founder you can get her information and others from the site.
The research being done in England has turned up some pretty hair curling and exciting tidbits about England, her courtisans and the captain's of her ships.

The site also has a blog spot for those who like to blog about it.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Genealogical History

July 5, 1959 my husband and I joined in marriage. July 5, 2009 we celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary. My parents did the same in 1988 in Sonoma Co, CA. They married in Wheatland, Wyo. My grandparents on Dad's side did not make 15 years. My Grandparents on Mom's side made 48 years. Calvin and Hannah JONES made 42 years. His parents did 49 years, Noyes and Susan Madison JONES.
All my siblings have changed spouses over the years. Wonder if any of our children will make 50 years? Mom was here to see us make 50 years. She just turned 89 years young.

So a bit of genealogical history to share. Anyone else as kin that has made the 50 mark. What about our friends?

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Jamboree in Burbank, CA

Several members of the Chula Vista Genealogical Society and the San Diego Genealogy Society attended the Jamboree in Burbank, CA.
We met at the train station by 5:30 am and had a pleasant ride to Burbank via Amtrack. Some of us sat in the upper berths and some stayed down closer to the tracks. It was a great way to start the adventure we were about to embark on.

We arrived in Burbank and were shuttled to the Marriott Hotel with a quick, efficient dispatch of a courier once our call was made to the hotel. Checking in was easy and the service was very pleasant. Alas I learned my key did not work, but sharing a room with four meant getting everyone back together to change it so I just went with with the flow.

Our group of four split up and seldom did we see the same talk. We should be able to share much information with our fellow researchers here at home.

I attended William Dollarhide's talk "Scots-Irish to Backwoods America 1717-1775. As always he does an excellent presentation and makes the information interesting. I purchased this book to go along with others of his that I use.
The hope is it will help my family to find the missing pieces of the puzzle for our Scott's, among other surnames.
I am very lost looking for John MORROW's family in Monroe Co., Ky in 1820. I have his wife's Tuttle line back to New England via southern trails.

I then went to his booth and shared the knowledge of his books with fellow genealogists that recognized me from my past
hosting on various on line forums.

I ordered William Dollarhide's talk "The Cavaliers of Southwest England to Virginia and Maryland, 1641-1675. (Our train was leaving I was told, before the presentation would be complete on Sunday.)

Shirley and i went to Denny's for dinner and then to bed early to unwind since we were up before 4 am.

Saturday
Wandered around the Exhibit Hall looking for familiar faces. I found a few which was awesome, but missed a cousin attending.
I was thrilled to see Pat Richley and George Morgan and Drew Smith and Maven. I attended the Bloggers Conference Saturday on a whim and it turned out to be one of the more interesting events I attended. It was not really about blogging but about where the genealogical world is probably going in the future.

I pod's, pod casts, and Up in the Air Genealogy, was hinted at and mentioned by almost each presenter in one message or another. They all recommended we make our web pages more friendly to the search engines and the people looking for connections. The same applies to our queries and comments.

I caught up briefly with Cheri Mello Saturday afternoon. To brief, we did not get to talk she was about to do a presentation and I never saw her afterwards.

Having attended, Stephen Danko, Ph.D., "Genealogy and the Changing Map of Eastern Europe". Learning he was a quality speaker and expressed his thoughts and knowledge, so that beginners and advanced could enjoy what he presented. Stephen,
I would love to have more talks on these types of topics. Diana attended this event with me.

I attended Dear Myrtle's talk on "7 Habits of Highly Effective Genealogists". I wanted to see if I had forgotten any over the years.
It was a great refresher to keep one on their toes. This class had probably 80% new attendees to Genealogy, a overwhelming large group. I think there was about 8 of us that had done genealogy any length of time.

Shirley and I attended "Researching in New York by Christopher Child" , we then hurried over to the NEHGS booth to get the book "New York Essays". I took notes to share with Jean H also since she was doing book signings at this time or a talk.
This talk was very informative and I am glad we both went so we can compare what we remembered of the talk. Love reinforcement in genealogy.

Having completed our day we then went to the Facebook Friends and Tweet Meet. Many old friends and acquaintances there.
Later I ordered a salad from the Cafe and enjoyed the company of Everett Ireland and his lovely wife. It is always a pleasure to share and swap our knowledge.

Sunday arrived, O my, the last day of a terrific Jamboree was arriving in full bloom and heat. I was amazed when I walked to the Exhibit area early to feel the heat off the pavement between the complexes.

I attended Leland Meitzler's " The Lay of the Land Using Directories, Maps and Gazetteers". We were informed of many new urls and maps and places to look for them. I absorbed much at this session.
I then had a small break and had some breakfast, missing Tony Burroughs, FUGA, "Adding DNA to Genealogy". I will probably order the disc for this to share with others. I met him earlier on when he was setting at the booth looking sad and alone. He has an awesome smile. :>)

I went to attend Lisa Louise Cooke "Google-A Goldmine of Genealogy Gems I and it was past standing room only. Shirley did attend this so I hope to learn from her notes. I did earlier ask Lisa what model recorder she used. I neglected to write it down when I was at the Bloggers event.

Stephen Danko, Ph.D. "A New Look at Immigrant Passenger Manifests", was very enlightening. I knew some of what he was discussing but he did an awesome job of reminding me of the hardships these people went through and the ridiculous method of determining who was eligible to stay in the USA and who they sent back to Europe etc..

Lastly, I attended a talk by old friend George G Morgan "Genealogical CSI". It was a fun and refreshing look at genealogical research. Remember the underlying theme seemed to be make it lighter and easier to track, so google and other researchers can find you and your research. George thanks for the terrific presentation. I am sorry I missed Drew's but will be sending him a note soon. Thanks for signing the book for me.

It will be interesting to see the events that other members attended and will be sharing.

Hoping others may share their thoughts about the events and what they felt they learned.

I think Paula and Leo did one awesome job for us. I attended two years ago and the difference was noticed immediately
on the handling of room sizes and situations. GOLD STAR for you both. We sure learn as we go. ">)

Susi